From Oscars fame to coffee adverts: Is it time for George Clooney to accept he is no longer a Hollywood icon?
These days, you’re more likely to see George Clooney advertising Nespresso coffee rather than appearing in a worthwhile film. Yet, there was a time when he was known as the ultimate Hollywood star, starring in a mixture of blockbuster hits and indie movies that allowed him to become one of the most recognisable actors of his generation.
Known for his humanitarian efforts, striking looks, and string of box office hits, for an extended period, it seemed like Clooney had it all. After making his screen debut in the show Centennial back in 1978, the actor secured his start in a run of low-budget horror and comedy movies before landing a prominent role in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn in 1996.
From here, Clooney’s career took off, and he appeared in everything from Batman & Robin to The Thin Red Line, clearly open to all genres and styles of filmmaking. You were just as likely to see Clooney in a movie like Spy Kids as you were in a heist flick like Ocean’s Eleven, and this range allowed him to earn widespread success. Since then, he has found acclaim from repeated collaborations with the Coen brothers, such as Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and Burn After Reading, while his voice role in Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox is easily his most beloved performance to date.
Building career momentum, Clooney won a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Oscar in 2006 for Syriana, while his producer role on Ben Affleck’s Argo secured him ‘Best Picture’ glory in 2013. Evidently, the actor has done well for himself, but in the past ten years, his career as a Hollywood icon has dwindled completely. Can we even call him one anymore?
While it seems like his interest in humanitarianism and directing has overridden his desire to be a leading man these days, the choices that Clooney has taken on as an actor in recent years are a far cry from the heights of clever comedies and indie films he used to gravitate towards. In fact, in a recent interview with Vanity Fair, the actor defended himself against criticism that he only seems to play himself, no longer the exciting star he once was when he emerged in the 1990s.
“Do people say that I only play myself? I don’t give a shit,” he said. “There aren’t that many guys in my age group that are allowed to do both broad comedies like O Brother [Where Art Thou?] and then do Michael Clayton or Syriana. So if that means I’m playing myself all the time, I don’t give a shit. Have you ever tried playing yourself? It’s hard to do,” he added.
Clearly, this kind of criticism hits a nerve for Clooney, although he can hardly be shocked that some people have questioned his endurance as a Hollywood star when he hasn’t been in anything noteworthy since 2016’s Hail, Caesar!. In 2022, he appeared in Ticket to Paradise alongside Julia Roberts, a cringe-inducing romantic comedy that didn’t exactly do anything to prove Clooney’s skills.
It might have grossed a considerable amount at the box office ($168.8million, to be precise), but it’s not exactly a fine piece of filmmaking. After making an uncredited cameo as Bruce Wayne in The Flash the following year, Clooney then took on a role in the children’s animated movie IF alongside Ryan Reynolds in addition to appearing in the poorly reviewed Wolfs in 2024. His decisions went from bad to worse.
So, what happened to Clooney’s career? With more attention given to coffee adverts than picking good movie roles, the actor’s time as someone with Hollywood icon status seems firmly over. However, with Clooney set to star in the (so far, well-received) upcoming Noah Baumbach film Jay Kelly later this year alongside the likes of Laura Dern, Adam Sandler, and Billy Crudup, perhaps Clooney will enter a new era in his career.
A return to form might be on the cards for Clooney, but only time will tell.
